Seattle Employees Demanding $15 an Hour Now Want Only Part Time Work to Avoid Losing Gov’t Benefits

Low wage workers in Seattle who spent months agitating for a city-wide $15-per-hour minimum wage were quite successful in their quest. But many have suddenly found that the new rate has had unexpected consequences.

Some workers across the city are left telling bosses to give them fewer hours at the higher wage because a full week’s earnings now puts them past the threshold for some welfare payments such as food stamps and assistance with rent.

Of course, one of the things that supporters of the higher wage said was that they wanted to help lift min. wage workers out of poverty and welfare.

Only last week, for instance, Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti claimed that a $15 min. wage in his city would lift 600,000 out of poverty. Self-avowed socialist Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT)16%, a VT Senator and a candidate for the Democrat nomination in 2016, also recently claimed that a $15 min. wage would “lift millions” of Americans out of poverty, off welfare, and into the buying public.